Chris Gayle to retire from ODI after 2019 World Cup

West Indies’s explosive opener Chris Gayle announced his retirement from one-day international cricket on Sunday. The ICC World Cup 2019, which will be played in England from May 30, will be the last tournament of his career. This information was tweeted by the West Indies Cricket Board.

A look at Gayle’s ODI career

39-year-old Gayle started his ODI career in Canada against India in 1999 in Toronto. In the 20-year-long international cricket career, he has played 284 ODIs and scored 9727 runs at an average of 37.12. During this time he scored 23 centuries and 49 fifties. He has a strike rate of 85.82 in ODIs.

Gayle is on second place in the list of batsmen who made the most runs in ODIs for the West Indies. Brian Lara is ahead of him. The Caribbean team had to play qualifiers for the first time to join the World Cup. He had played a key role in reaching the final of the qualifiers tournament held in Zimbabwe last year.

ODI double century for West Indies

Chris Gayle has scored 23 centuries in ODIs for the West Indies. He is the only batsman who has scored double century on behalf of the West Indies. He scored 215 runs in the league round against Zimbabwe during the 2015 World Cup. During this time, he also became the first player to score double century in World Cup history. Gayle has also contributed a lot to the Caribbean team in bowling. He has taken 165 wickets in 284 one-day matches through his off-breaks.

Played last ODI in July 2018

Gayle has not played any international one-day match for the West Indies since the domestic one-day series against Bangladesh in July 2018. Because of the Afghan Premier League, he did not visit India and Bangladesh for the ODI series. Gayle’s stint in the IPL has earned him a huge fan following in India.